1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cleaner system. More particularly, to a robot cleaner system including a docking station, which is installed to suck and remove dust and debris stored in a robot cleaner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cleaner system is a device used to remove dust in a room for cleaning the room. A conventional vacuum cleaner collects dust and loose debris by a suction force generated from a low-pressure unit included therein. A conventional robot cleaner removes dust and loose debris from the floor as it moves on the floor via a self-traveling function thereof, without requiring the user's manual operation. Hereinafter, a term “automatic cleaning” refers to a cleaning operation performed by the robot cleaner as the robot cleaner operates to remove dust and loose debris while moving by itself.
Generally, the robot cleaner is combined with a station (hereinafter, referred to as a docking station) to form a single system. The docking station is located at a specific place in a room, and serves not only to electrically charge the robot cleaner, but also to remove dust and debris stored in the robot cleaner.
One example of the above-described robot cleaner system is disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0150519. The disclosed robot cleaner system includes a robot cleaner and a docking station having a suction unit to suck dust and debris. The robot cleaner includes a suction inlet at a bottom wall thereof to suck dust and loose debris, and a brush is rotatably mounted in the proximity of the suction inlet to sweep up the dust and loose debris. The docking station includes a supporting base having an inclined surface to enable the robot cleaner to ascend along. The docking station also includes a suction inlet formed at a portion of the inclined surface of the base to suck dust and loose debris. With this configuration, when the robot cleaner ascends along the inclined surface and reaches a docking position, the suction inlet formed at the inclined surface of the docking station is positioned to face the suction inlet of the robot cleaner. Thereby, as the suction unit provided in the docking station is operated, dust and debris stored in the robot cleaner can be sucked into and removed by the docking station.
However, in the disclosed conventional robot cleaner system as described above, the robot cleaner has to ascend the inclined surface of the docking station in order to reach the docking position, but the docking station is of a predetermined height. Therefore, the robot cleaner has a difficulty during a docking operation thereof due to the complicated structure for guiding the robot cleaner to an accurate docking position.
Further, since the conventional docking station performs a dust suction operation in a state where the suction inlet thereof simply faces the suction inlet of the robot cleaner, the conventional robot cleaner system has a problem in that it is difficult to stably keep the robot cleaner in a docked state due to vibrations caused by the suction unit of the docking station.
Furthermore, the conventional robot cleaner system has a poor sealing ability between both the suction inlets of the robot cleaner and docking station. Therefore, there is a problem in that a suction force generated by the suction unit is significantly reduced, thus causing the dust of the robot cleaner to be discharged into a room, rather than being suctioned into the docking station.